Maritime New Zealand says a fishing company did too little too late, to prevent the death of a worker

Sanford has been fined over the death of Steffan Stewart, who died after getting caught in freezer machinery on a ship, off the coast of Banks Peninsula three years ago.

It's since spend 400-thousand dollars making changes to equipment and operating procedures.

Maritime New Zealand Investigations Manager Pete Dwen says the company had already identified the freezer system as high risk, but didn't enforce its rules.